The coastline of the abandoned town of Maraş in the Turkish Cypriot city of Gazimagusa will reopen on Thursday, the prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) announced Tuesday.
TRNC HAD ANNOUNCED THE OPENING OF MARAS TO TOURISTS IN 2019
The coastline of Maraş will be open for public use as of Thursday morning, Ersin Tatar said in a joint news conference with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the capital Ankara.
Maraş is currently a ghost town where entry is forbidden, except for Turkish army personnel stationed in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
“Maraş issue is a national cause above all political competitions and debates,” Tatar said. “It is a fact that Maraş is a TRNC territory. We fully support the decision to make Maras’s coastline available to the public,” Erdoğan said.
Turkey is also ready to support the Turkish Cypriot administration to fully open the town of Maras, Erdoğan stressed. “The objections of the opposing party have already been in vain, as there will be no victimization due to the absence of any private property [in Maraş],” Erdoğan said.
“Turkish Cypriot people were again ignored at the latest EU summit. Turkey will not allow the continuation of this injustice,” he said. “As the TRNC grows, gets richer and stronger, the embargo chains imposed on it will begin to break one by one,” Erdoğan added.